Writings, pics, music, arts and difficult conversations

Curtain Raiser

A Season of Untamed Fires, Colltalers

As new street protests irrupt, this time in Brazil, it’s becoming harder to keep track of popular unrest against corruption around the world. Which makes this either an exciting moment, if you need to learn something, or a fool’s errand, if it’s just to keep yourself abreast.
The Turkish youth had already been leading the way for a while, and as violent confrontations are now escalating to unpredictable new heights, there are concerns that hard-core radicals may gain the upper hand in the government, and try to crush dissent one way or another.
What began as peaceful demonstrations over the fate of a sliver of public space in Istanbul, has now spilled over and galvanized most of Turkey’s society. However, the much needed national debate that people in the streets are demanding may be short lived.
While support for the protests grows amid grassroots groups and unions, which called for widespread strikes, much of the initial push for transparency and an increased role for citizens in decision making may be drowned out by the thunder of firepower.
Of course, by most accounts, for as much as the situation in Turkey is serious, the tragedy in Syria is ‘the’ world crisis du jour, and the U.S. and other global powers made an unfortunate contribution to its worsening last week, when they signaled intention in stepping into the carnage.
You can be sure that such a step will be disastrous for it most certainly will involve some heavy-handed combat gear, and not much else of anything, except increasing exponentially the number of weapons and corpses all around.
We do seem to have completely lost the sense of what to do, other than nothing or bombing someone, in any and every kind of situation. For to seriously consider picking sides in this obscenely insane conflict, there must be a gargantuan cognition breakdown at the core of our foreign policy.
In fact, it’s so clear that any type of military intervention would be catastrophic, that one doesn’t even need to play out the likely scenarios: they’ve already been played not too far from Syria: in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re all fully aware of how well that’s worked out so far for all parties involved.
But the Middle East quagmire being what it may, there are some who’re truly shocked shocked with what’s happening in Brazil. And while skeptics may dismiss Turkey, for instance, as just another spring and summer fad, it’s actually winter in the Southern Hemisphere, so skeptics be damned.
Half a world away, Latin America’s biggest economy was supposed to have the perfect antidote to a predictable, albeit still disquieting, slowdown of the virtual cycle of growth it had experienced in the past decade: two major global sports events, the World Cup next year, and the Summer Games in 2016.
Because of the scope of such mega events, the rationale would go, a flood of investments and a renewed interest in Brazilian culture would certainly compensate for the impact of declining commodity prices on its economy, which is heavily tilted towards agricultural exports.
The dress rehearsal for those two events is the currently under way Confederations Cup, which predictably has attracted a windfall of investments and extended Brazil’s turn into the spotlight. But just as the soccer ball started rolling, so did the urge of the society to show that not all is going according to the script.
Thus, this past week a massive wave of rallies in Brazil’s biggest cities has started to dispute that same world spotlight with its football stars. After a long while, Brazilians have taken to the streets to protest a hike in public transportation prices and, by extension, official corruption.
And then, surprise surprise, law enforcement was called in and demonstrations turned into bloody battles, just like those seen during the Arab Spring and now in Turkey. So much for the fun loving, samba-dancing Brazilians, a description that most of them abhor as stereotypical and unfair.
It got considerably worse when members of the country’s organized press corps, reportedly one of the most combative and independent segments of the civil society, got beaten and shot at by the police. More rallies are set for this week, and the Rousseff administration’s already behind the curve.
If this scenario has become familiar, and the street protest are encouraging from a democratic point of view, confrontation between citizens and the armed forces are never a sight to be cheerful about. And that’s what Turkey and Brazil have in common, at least at this particular juncture.
The governments at the two nations seem to be clueless on how to handle what’s essentially Democracy 101: freedom of speech. Worst yet: calling them traitors and vandals can only aggravate the proceedings, besides being an open invitation for even more intolerance and violence against civilians.
What about the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, of all places, you may ask? We very much doubt that anything concrete towards eliminating tax havens for billionaires, for instance, will come out of it. And since the group doesn’t really care much about anything or anybody else, neither should we about it.
Much worthier of notice is the Moral Mondays, a striking new movement of North Carolinians rising against discretionary policies against the poor and ‘extreme conservatives’ heading the state’s GOP. We wish them well, and don’t count us among the cynical and the jaded who seem ever so eager to dismiss their intent.
There’s much more, of course, but as we’ve mentioned above, who can keep up with it all?
As for the weary and the restless, a good place to calibrate that angst is Colltales, even though we’ve been posting ever so lightly lately. Among a thousand-plus stories, though, you’re as likely to find one that you can use, as we are to write another to keep us going. So long. WC

4 thoughts on “Curtain Raiser”

I’m not so sure there can be ‘peaceful’ demonstrations these days. Any form of ‘civil disobedience’ is going to be dealt with swiftly and without mercy. There are going to be a lot of martyrs. Will Good overcome Evil? I doubt it but I still, without any reason, keep hoping…

WILD HORSES

Harrowing Ride

Audio Portrait

East Village in the 80s through my answering machine. Greeting messages, friendly voices, a recorded ecstasy and many tongues were left on tape for me to remember. Now I'm sharing it all with you. Enjoy it.

World Cup
in S.Africa.
Remember?

Joyce's 'Ulysses'
as Graphic Novel

The illustration above is one of the plates of "Ulysses 'Seen,'" a high quality graphic adaptation by Robert Berry of James Joyce's masterpiece "Ulysses."
For those who never got around to read the long, uninterrupted, controversial June 16, 1904, conversation by Molly Bloom, Stephen Dedalus and others, that the great Irishman envisioned in Dublin, you won't have a better chance to do it.
And for those already familiar with the book form, it's another opportunity to appreciate this enduring work of literature through the eyes of a contemporary artist.
In either case, a few pints of Guinness to go along with it are absolutely optional.

EPITAPH

"Alone we are born, and die alone;
Yet see the red-gold cirrus
Over snow-mountain shine.
Upon the upland road
Ride easy, stranger:
Surrender to the sky
Your heart of anger."

FALSE ALARM

Desmodus

The Artist

Father & Son

Fireball Over Midwest Skies

COLL POLL

The Numbers Are In

Voting stations are closed at this time. The final tally was 13 votes in favor of Coll getting a cellphone and two against it.

MAY 19th IS COLL'S BIRTHDAY & HE WON!

This decision is final. Thank you all for participating. Coll's most heartfelt gratitude goes for the kind souls who voted in favor. For the two heartless hacks who were against it (you know who you are), a SWAP team graciously volunteered to pay you a visit first thing tomorrow morning. Stop by the front desk to request a waiver to present to your teacher, boss or dominatrix. Call your mother. Enroll in a charitable cause. Volunteer at a Soup Kitchen. Run to raise funds for Aids. This is our last broadcast. Please tune in for future promotions. This tape will self-destroy in five seconds. No further ado will come out of nothing. (5/19/2010)

MOTION

CLUTCH

Off-Key Note

Writings, pictures, videos, comments & more, edited by a writer, musician and world citizen living in downtown
New York City.
Acting gigs, a few screenplays and endless clashes with reality.
Brazilian by birth, multilingual by chance, cash strapped as usual.
Agnostic but partial to great soccer. Unmoved by sunsets, campaign speeches, the religious pull or any sure bet.Poor vision and lower back pain. A bottomless pit for a navel. Blue, cats, 9, left, heat and outer space.
Common ground needs not to apply. Not accepting advice at this time.

Naked City

“In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock.”

Slideshow

LAST WORDS

* - "Let's do it."GARY GILMORE, executed by firing squad in Jan. 17, 1977, by the State of Utah, for murdering a model clerk. He was the last person to be executed in the U.S. in that fashion until June 18, 2010, when Ronnie Lee Gardner was shot to death also by Utah.

Norman Mailer wrote "The Executioner's Song," which he called a "true story," based on the relationship he established with Gilmore, a confessed killer, and the state of affairs of the U.S. in the 1970s. The book doesn't shy away from the horrific facts surrounding his murderous spree, but in a way it tones them down and shifts the focus to the society's possible role as a fertile ground for such deviant behavior.